There’s no escaping talk of coronavirus. All over the world, headlines are dominated by this illness that began in China (resulting in a huge amount of public business shutdowns, including film productions and cinemas) and has spread throughout the world. Italy, recently, was put in the position to end public gatherings in fear of an even bigger outbreak (this resulted in a production stoppage for “Mission: Impossible 7”). So, with coronavirus becoming worse by the day, there’s a variety of ways that this has already affected the film and TV industry, but it appears that more issues will be forthcoming.
We are knee-deep into the Berlin Film Festival and it appears that outside of a few cancellations, the event has gone off without much of an issue regarding coronavirus. However, with France reporting a case of coronavirus recently (combined with the fact that the illness seems to be sticking around for a while), all eyes are on this spring’s Cannes and whether or not the year’s biggest film festival will be affected.
In response to this question, a Cannes spokesperson said (via IndieWire), “The Festival de Cannes is monitoring carefully the developments and the latest guidelines provided by the local, national and international authorities regarding the coronavirus, and is in direct link with the Alpes-Maritimes’ administrative office. As of today, it is still premature to express assumptions on an event scheduled in two months and a half.”
READ MORE: ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Halts Production Due To Coronavirus Outbreak In Italy
But with the “Mission: Impossible 7” production hiatus in Italy, as well as the ever-increasing number of Chinese premieres for films such as “Mulan,” “No Time To Die,” and others being canceled daily, it appears that studios are being just as cautious as the festivals. According to Variety, a lot of the studios are assembling coronavirus teams to help figure out how to proceed.
The report says, “Most of the major studios have begun assembling advisory teams comprised of members of their production, marketing, finance, and human resources staff to assess the potential impact of the disease.” These groups are mainly created to make sure employees in affected areas remain safe, but it’s also going to become more important to see what the studios do if the spread of coronavirus continues.
With all the studios beginning to show signs of worry and with the stock market becoming affected by the spread (and fear) of coronavirus, it appears that there is one avenue of the film and TV industry that probably won’t be negatively hit by the illness—Netflix.
According to another Variety report, analysts say that the fear of coronavirus could lead to people decided to stay inside to avoid large public gatherings. You know, like going to the multiplex. And we all know what happens when you’re stuck inside—binge-watching.
BMO Capital Market analyst Dan Salmon said that Netflix “is an obvious beneficiary if consumers stay home due to coronavirus concerns, and this has been reflected in considerable stock price outperformance this week.”
So maybe all this coronavirus news isn’t as terrible and life-threatening as every scientist and educated person says. Maybe President Trump is right and it’s all just being blown out of proportion? Oh wait, almost 3,000 people have died and the illness keeps spreading with no end in sight. Netflix is definitely looking like a good option.